Samuel boden



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SAMUEL BODEN, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

Letters Patent No. 87,461, dated .March 2, 1869.

VIOLIN-BRIDGE.

Tho B chedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making par: of thesame.

make and .use the same, reference being had to the ac-v companyingdrawings, .making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 isapeispective view of a bridge designed Afor a viol, and constructed inaccordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective view ot' a bridge designed for a violin, whichis constructed upon the same principle as that shown in iig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention relates to an improvement in bridges for stringedinstruments, such as bass-viols, violins, 85e.; and

lt consists in constructing such bridge with a series of bearing-points,or feet, for supporting the samesuch bearing-points being so arranged asto boar upon and be supported by a larger area of the surface of the topboard of the instrument than heretofore, the object ot' this arrangementbeing to enable me to dispense with the support commonly used, which isplaced between the walls of the instrument, which support has been foundto prevent, to a great extent, the vibrations of' such walls or boards,thus interfering, to a great e.\- tent, with the volume of the soundgiven otl by such instrument.

A represents the sounding board," or top wall of the instrument.

is a bridge for supporting the strings of the instrument, which isconstructed with a series of feet as bearing-points, so arranged as tocover a large area of the sounding-board, and, at the same time, bringthe strain upon suoli board nearer to its edges, or to the walls whichseparate it from the lower board, or wall of the instrument, thusdecreasing, to a great extent, the liability of fracturing thesounding-board, and, what is of greater importance, enabling me todispense with the partition or support commonly used between the twowalls of the instrument, for the purpose of preventing the upper onefrom being crushed in by the force applied by the tightening of thestrings.

It will'be apparent, that as a consequence of the construction of mybridge, and thev fact that such construe-` tion enables me to dispensewith the support between enabled to produce, with the same instrument, amuch greater volume of sound than has heretofore been done, owing to thefact that the walls of the instrument are allowed to vibrate to thelfull extent of the agitation thereof, caused by drawing the bow acrossthe strings; whereas, in the present form, the. two walls are joinedtogether by means of the support above referred to, which, to a greatextent, prevents such vibrations, and which, to that extent, lessens thevolume ot' sound produced.

Having thus described my invention,

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- A bridge forstringe-d musical instruments, constructed substantially as shown anddescribed, and for the purpose set forth. A

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence. of two subscribing witnesses..

SAMUEL BODEN. Witnesses:

JOHN S. HOLLINGSHEAD, J oHN S. HOLLINGSHEAD, Jr.

the two walls of the instrument, as above stated, I am

